The Effect of Thickness of A Plectrum Used on The Sound Produced by A Guitar String

It is believed that the human ear is very sensitive to subtle changes in sounds. In the context of a guitar, the myriad of sounds produced by the strings depends majorly on the plucking technique of the player, but it is hypothesized that the sound produced by a string is also influenced, to some degree, by the thickness of the plectrum used for playing. This has led many to speculate whether bands and artists like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones would have sounded very different if they hadn't used the right guitar plectrum. In this research paper, three plectrums of different thickness have been used to pluck electric guitar strings and the output electric voltage has been documented using the software Visual Analyzer. The observations show that the thickness of a plectrum indeed influences the sound produced by a guitar string to a significant extent. Article History Received: 28-September-2018 Accepted: 03-December-2018